Thailand Cave Rescue Latest: More Schoolboys Are Saved

11 July 2018

Divers have begun the third phase of the rescue of a youth soccer team trapped more than two weeks in a flooded cave in northern Thailand and aim to bring out the last four boys and their coach Tuesday, the top rescue official said.

On Sunday, teams of divers brought out four of the trapped boys but waited several hours before confirming their safe rescue.

On Monday afternoon, Osatanakorn said the same group of divers involved in Sunday's rescue operation had entered the cave at 11 a.m. local time to rescue the group still stuck inside. "We can't visit our boys in hospital because they need to be monitored for 48 hours", Somboon told Reuters. Thai Navy SEALs and worldwide cave diving experts brought out four boys Sunday, and the operation is continuing today.

Authorities have not confirmed the identity of the first four boys rescued. Eight people remain trapped in the flooded cave system.

Like much of the world, Patrick Decker has been engrossed in the saga of 12 boys trapped with their soccer coach in a flooded cave in northern Thailand. Workers have been laboring around the clock to pump water out of the cave, and authorities said Monday that heavy downpours overnight did not raise water levels inside.

These divers have been working together to help guide the boys through the long, hard passages of the cave.

Over the weekend, the Thai government successfully rescued four boys who had been trapped in the cave since June 23.

"The children complained that they were hungry and wanted holy basil stir-fried rice (a popular Thai dish)".

The four boys who have already been rescued have been placed in quarantine to avoid the risk of infection.

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A diving crew is now making the treacherous journey to save the group of 13 boys aged 11-16 and their football coach who are trapped by flooded tunnels.

Among the ideas were drilling an escape route through the mountain, or leaving them for months until the monsoon season ended and the flooding subsided.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha went to the cave to inspect the rescue operation, with navy rescuers giving him a rousing cheer. "We believe that we can do even better and it will be a 100 percent success", he said.

Mr Narongsak - now the governor of Phayao province - said 90 divers, 50 of them foreigners, had taken part in yesterday's operation starting at 10am. "Some of them had gone to rest, some others are preparing for the next operation". "Some others are preparing for the next operation".

When it was realised that the boys were in the cave system, divers began the process of trying to find them in the enormous area. Those conditions won't last if the rain resumes, he said.

There's been no shortage of warnings in recent days about how risky the rescue attempt is - not least the death of former Thai Navy Sgt. Saman Kunan, an ex-SEAL, who died early Friday morning due to a lack of air while attempting to return to a command center deep underground.

The journey had taken as long as five hours from the part of the cave where the boys are to the exit when the water level was high and the current was strong, but that was down to around 2 ½ hours by Sunday, Karadzic said. "The boys' strength, the plan - today we are ready like before".

The other, and perhaps more worrying, was that oxygen levels in the complex were falling close to risky levels.